HR learning: 16 Oct, 2017

1.

Schneider Electric sets up Centre of Excellence in Bangalore

The CoE is to be set up following a tripartite MoU between New Horizon College of Engineering, Schneider Electric and The French Ministry of National Education. 

Schneider Electric will set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in the premises of New Horizon College of Engineering (NHCE) in Bangalore. The Training Centre will carry out vocational training programmes in initial and continuing education in the fields of electricity, automation and energy management.

The tripartite MoU was signed in Bangalore between The French Ministry of National Education, represented by Marianne de Brunhoff, Director-European and International Relations and Cooperation of the French Ministry of National Education; Schneider Electric India, represented by Shrinivas Chebbi, president, partner & eco buildings; and NHCE, represented by Mohan Maghnani, chairman.

Commenting on the signing of the MoU, Chebbi, says, “The CoE is a result of a common desire to develop, within an international framework of ‘academic-industry’ links, training programmes in continuing education for technical teachers, to train young engineers and technicians and prepare them for the job market in the fields of electricity, automation and energy management. In addition, the programme will also train customers of Schneider Electric. The effort is to bridge the skills gap in the country.”

The Training Centre will carry out vocational training programmes in initial and continuing education in the fields of electricity, automation and energy management.

2.

Augmenting Engagement of Diverse Learners

At the People Matters L&D League Annual Conference 2017, Melissa Ries, VP-GM APAC at Skillsoft shares her perspective on how to augment engagement in todays learners especially in the digital world.

As the ways of consuming content keep on innovating, mobile learning has expanded the reach of eLearning to all learners beyond imagination. Organizations today are heavily investing in it with roughly 47% now using mobile devices for their online training needs. However, the question is how do you engage learners as research suggest human concentration has reduced to just 8 seconds. Do you engage with them through videos? 

But Millennials who are supposed to use digital content for learning seemingly prefer books over tech. Since multigenerational workforce has different preferences, it would be imperative for organizations to provide them with relevant content amidst the deluge of content available at the click of a button, personalize the approach towards learning and consumerize the learning method. The digital approach should have processes to know which application/learning modules apply to them, based on their previous learning modules the application should be able to recommend which one to go for, what were their searches- very much similar to product sites. 

3.

Developing multi-generational leaders

In the People Matters L&D League Annual Conference 2017, Yash Mahadik, Global CHRO at Sun Pharma shares his views on how to develop leaders in the multigenerational workforce and startles us with his anecdotes.

We talk about the challenges of multigenerational workforce today – baby boomers, Millennials, as well as the next generation who are set to join the workforce in 2022. But the pertinent question to ask is, are we really seeing a multigenerational workforce for the first time? Every decade, we have had workforce which comprise not only fresh graduates but also senior leaders. But why is so much being spoken about this now? There are two reasons behind this. First, a lot research being written started hitting people’s screens only a decade or two ago. Second, the generational behaviours, and preferences have become starker. The social and digital divide have also added to the chasm. These are the reasons why we need to address this issue and be cognizant about the generations.

I have been fortunate enough to have worked in top-notch companies globally. I moved back to India two years back and joined Sun Pharma to build a brand with multigenerational leaders. The real difference that I have observed over the years, stems from behaviour. For instance, I have six colleagues here today, three of whom are from Gen X and Y and three millennials. The older ones arrived half an hour back, had their refreshments, and found themselves seats at the front, while the baby boomers came 5 minutes before the session, had a sandwich and still managed to find decent seats. This makes me believe that we should not value judge or question someone’s commitment. So be cognizant of generations but do not generalize.  

There was a recent Deloitte research which found that surprisingly millennials are not good on social media. They may well be on social media but that does not mean they understand digital technology. Just being present on FB doesnt mean understanding the digital tech. GenY and GenZ are more tech-savvy. On a relative basis, folks from Gen X and Y have a better grasp of digital technology. So we need to have this context for developing a multigenerational workforce. 

In my stints across the world, I have learnt that three things are common across nations and cultures. First, when it comes to generational divide, the behaviours, and the needs are common. Second, irrespective of generations, everyone loves their country and culture. Third, most people are not aware that they are being evaluated, assessed, discussed from a generational lens.